Logic Tutorial: How to Create Rave Stabs Using ES2 Synth

Dubspot instructor and course designer Matt Shadetek returns with another episode of Secret Knowledge, a Logic Pro video tutorial series full of production tips, techniques and advice for Logic users. In this installment, Shadetek shows how to create rave stabs by layering multiple detuned saw waves, using Logic’s ES2 virtual analog synthesizer.

The sound we’re going to create here has been in use for years in many styles of electronic dance music, but somehow people keep returning to it: the rave stab. Rave stabs are made by layering a pair of highly detuned saw waves with one another and then using something to animate the pitch and cause it to bend. In this example we’ll do this with the ES2 synth in Logic and an envelope but there are many ways to create this type of sound. All you need is a synthesizer that can layer saw waves and create pitch movement. For extra credit I’ve set up the envelope modulating the pitch to be velocity-sensitive, so when this patch is played from a controller we get some additional variation depending on how the instrument is played. – Matt Shadetek